: and, of all
these characters, that which has been the most infallible herald of
decease, voluptuousness, has been the most rapid and sure. Corruption
lieth under it; and every school, and indeed every individual, that
has pandered to this, and departed from the true spirit in which all
study should be conducted, sought to degrade and sensualize, instead
of chasten and render pure, the humanity it was instructed to
elevate. So has that school, and so have those individuals, lost
their own power and descended from their high seat, fallen from the
priest to the mere parasite, from the law-giver to the mere courtier.

If we have entered upon a new age, a new cycle of man, of which there
are many signs, let us have it unstained by this vice of sensuality
of mind. The English school has lately lost a great deal of this
character; why should we not be altogether free from it? Nothing can
degrade a man or a nation more than this meanness; why should we not
avoid it? Sensuality is a meanness repugnant to youth, and disgusting
in age: a degradation at all times. Let us say

"My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure."

Bearing this in mind,--the conviction that, without the pure heart,
nothing can be done worthy of us; by this, that the most successful
school of painters has produced upon us the intention of their
earnestness at this distance of time,--let us follow in their path,
guided by their light: not so subservient as to lose our own freedom,
but in the confidence of equal power and equal destiny; and then rely
that we shall obtain the same success and equal or greater power,
such as is given to the age in which we live. This is the only course
that is worthy of the influence which might be exerted by means of
the Arts upon the character of the people: therefore let it be the
only one for us to follow if we hope to share in the work.

That the real power of the Arts, in conjunction with Poetry, upon the
actions of any age is, or might be, predominant above all others will
be readily allowed by all that have given any thought to the subject:
and that there is no assignable limit to the good that may be wrought
by their influence is another point on which there can be small
doubt. Let us then endeavour to call up and exert this power in the
worthiest manner, not forgetting that we chose a difficult path in
which there are many snares, and holding in mind the motto, _"No
Cross, no Crown."_